


Ashes and Bones

by SunlightOnTheWater



Series: Ashes to Dust [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adam is a Winchester, Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-21 00:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2449142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunlightOnTheWater/pseuds/SunlightOnTheWater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam's life has transformed itself into a nightmare. Adam's nightmares are growing worse, there might be demons tracking Sam, and Dean is turning into their recently deceased father. And that's only the beginning of his problems.</p>
<p>Updates on Mondays and Fridays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ashes and Bones

**Author's Note:**

> Just to warn you before you begin, the prologue is in Dean's POV instead of Sam's, although I think the rest of the story will be in Sam's.

Dean Winchester found himself standing in the middle of a busy hospital hallway. He blinked and stared in confusion at the nurse who rushed past him, trying to understand how he had ended up here. The last thing he remembered was a semi smacking hard into his baby which explained the hospital but not why he was standing the hall. "Excuse me ma'am," he said of the next nurse who came down the hall. She didn't so much as blink. In fact, she walked straight through him. Dean gaped after her, stunned. "Son of a bitch," he muttered after a moment of thought. "I'm dead."

"Mr. Winchester?" Dean's head snapped around and he saw the nurse who had walked through him approach a tall, slumped looking man. It took a moment for him to realize the man was Sam.

"Yeah?" Sam's voice was wary, as if he were expecting bad news. Dean wondered if they were going to tell Sam that he was dead.

"Your father was asking about you," she said, her expression sympathetic.

"I'm not leaving my brothers," Sam replied, voice unwavering, and Dean snorted.

"Yeah right," he muttered. "You already left us once. Nothing's stopping you from walking out again."

"They'll be fine if you go speak with your father," the nurse said gently but Sam shook his head, expression stubborn. She sighed then and walked past his brother, shaking her head. Sam watched her go as if contemplating how to take her down should the need arise and then turned, slipping into the room nearest to him. Dean followed, hoping maybe Sam could lead him to some answers, and found himself staring at his own still body. He was hooked up to what seemed like a dozen monitors and one beeped steadily, measuring his heart rate.

Sam glared at his still body, arms folded over his chest and bitchiest expression he could probably come up with on his face. "You'd better wake up," Sam hissed at him, sounding angrier than Dean had ever heard him. "Because I don't know how much time I have left and someone has to look after Adam."

"You look after Adam you prissy bitch," Dean snarled at him, even though he knew his brother couldn't hear him. "You don't get to run out on him again, not like last time. You don't have the right."

"After all," Sam continued, a wry twist to his mouth as he spoke over Dean's last sentence. "You're the one who put me in this situation in the first place with the whole don't kill Dad thing so you're the one who has to take care of the mess." Then Sam turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. Dean followed, irritation rising like magma pushing on solid rock to break free. Sam was going to bitch at him? Sam was the one who had walked out the door for college. Sam was the one who had left him to figure out how to relate to Adam. Sam didn't have any right to snap at him now.

They ended up in Adam's room. Dean's youngest brother was hooked up to a couple machines, an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, but he was at least conscious. "Hey Adam," Sam said, his whole demeanor gentling. Adam grinned weakly and croaked out a hello, waving a trembling hand. "How're you doing?"

"Okay," Adam croaked and Sam reached out to smooth his hair in an easy, practiced motion. Adam's eyes drifted closed and Dean watched in silent awe as his youngest brother relaxed completely. 

"Get some rest Adam," Sam said, voice low and soothing. "I'll be right here."

"You-How?" Dean sputtered but Sam couldn't hear him. Adam drifted off to sleep quickly and Sam settled in a chair next to the bed, hand wrapped lightly around their brother's wrist and thumb running smooth circles over his pulse there. Dean watched them and recalled a memorable argument between Adam and Dad not long after Sam had left. There had been a shapeshifter and Adam had refused to follow any orders. After the case had been closed, shapeshifter killed and burned, Dad had snapped at Adam and Adam, unsurprisingly, had snapped right back.

"You expect me to fucking listen to you but you didn't raise me. Sam did," Adam had screamed. "And I don't have enough fucking respect for you to follow your orders like a good little robot." Now, watching his younger brothers in the hospital room, Dean was beginning to see Adam's point. Not that Adam shouldn't have followed orders, that was going to get people killed some day, but that Dad hadn't raised his youngest son. Sam was the one who had always known how to deal with Adam, Sam was the one who had been patient enough to explain things to Adam, and Sam was the one sitting in a hospital room making sure that Adam felt safe enough to sleep.

There was a rap on the door frame and Sam glanced up, whole body tense before he saw who it was. Dean's younger brother relaxed while Dean could only gape at the girl standing there. "Selene."

"Good morning Sam," the girl replied serenely. She was standing in the doorway with a steaming cup of coffee, her blue-violet eyes gleaming slightly. She crossed the room to hand him the coffee cup and then leaned against the wall, glancing down at Adam.

The newcomer was the sort of girl Dean would have called exotic, despite the fact that Sam always pointed out that different did not necessarily mean exotic and that the term was a tiny bit offensive. Her skin was a warm brown, like someone accustomed to being out in the sun, and her eyes were just shy of being almond shaped. Her hands were delicate when she smoothed one through Sam's hair and her own hair was white blonde and braided to hang down between her shoulder blades. She was dressed in a dark blue top made of some kind of silky looking material, plain blue jeans, and black heeled boots. "No change?" she asked Sam and he nodded. "Okay, then tell me about this deal."

"I already told you," Sam replied, voice tight. "And it doesn't matter anyway. I already broke it."

"But nothing has happened yet?" The woman's voice was speculative, as if considering the reasons for that.

"I don't know how these things work," Sam said with a shrug and a weak smile. "Maybe the news hasn't reached downstairs yet." The woman shrugged at him.

"I don't deal in souls so I wouldn't know." She sighed then and glanced towards the door. "I can't stay Sam."

"I know. You shouldn't have come in the first place," Sam told her.

"You've been in a car crash Sam," she told him. "Like Hades am I going to not come visit." She leaned over then and kissed him lightly on the forehead like a mother would. "Stay safe Sam."

"I will," Sam said but Dean could tell by the way his hands clenched lightly in his lap for a moment that Sam was lying. Adam slept peacefully in his bed, oblivious to what had transpired. Dean watched his brothers for a moment longer before leaving to find their father.

John Winchester was arguing with the dark haired nurse from earlier. "You haven't been cleared Mr. Winchester," she was saying. "I know you're worried about your boys but you won't do them any good if you're injured."

"Just get me the damn papers," John snapped and the nurse glared at him. Her look could have downed a wendigo at ten paces and Dean watched in silent shock as his dad actually faltered.

"When Dr. Ortez has time to check you over and clear you, I'll send him over," she said, her voice like ice. Then she turned and stalked right through Dean and into the hall, teeth clenched so tightly that the oldest Winchester son could hear them grinding together. John Winchester wasn't making any friends in this hospital. Not that their dad went out of his way to make friends in any hospital. Hospitals, to John Winchester, were both wastes of money and inconveniences.

As soon as he seemed certain that the nurse wasn't returning anytime soon, John was sliding out of the hospital bed. Dean watched as his father made his way over to the stack of clothing on top of the duffel in the nearby chair, purposefully keeping his eyes on the back of John's head so as not to see where the hospital gown gapped a little. His father pulled out the battered black journal he'd kept since their mother died and began searching through it, muttering under his breath. Approaching footsteps had John stiffening and rushing on soft feet back to the hospital bed with an irritated expression on his face. John had just settled in and shut his eyes when Sam walked through the door.

"You can stop pretending to be asleep Dad."

"Finally," their father muttered and sat up. "I need you to get some supplies for me."

"I'm not leaving Adam," Sam replied icily, using a tone Dean had never heard before. Normally Sam was mild mannered and easy to walk all over, at least in Dean's experience. Sam would do pretty much anything, give up anything, just to keep his family together, Stanford anomaly aside, so this was unexpected. But maybe Dean had been blind most his life because Dad didn't look surprised, just furious.

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me boy," John snapped but Sam didn't twitch.

"I told you a long time ago, Adam comes first," Sam snapped back.

"Except for your precious dreams," John sneered and Dean's eyes widened. The oldest Winchester son had never heard his father sound like that.

"Christo," he whispered, despite the fact that no one could hear him. Sam didn't even look surprised by that. His younger brother quickly hid the hurt.

"Adam didn't need me then," Sam retorted firmly. "He does now."

"Adam is old enough to take care of himself," John shot back. "He has been since you abandoned him." Sam flinched slightly at that but no expression crossed his face or eyes.

"He has a demon gunning for him," Sam said firmly. "Get the things yourself. I'm watching over my baby brother." Then he turned and walked out of the room, leaving a furious John Winchester behind.


End file.
